Town and Country; or, life at home and abroad, without and within us eBook

her kind heart had given.
But all was passed; she lay
in death,
The
last word had been said,
The soul had left its prison-house,
And
up to heaven had fled;
But ’t was a joy for
him to know
She
smiled on him in love,
And hope did whisper in his
heart,
“She’ll
guard thee from above.”
He sat beneath that old oak
tree,
And
children gathered round,
And wondered why he wept,
and asked
What
sorrow he had found.
Then told he them this sad,
sad tale,
Which
I have told to you;
They asked no more why he
did weep,
For
they his sorrow knew.
And soon their tears began
to fall,
And
men came gathering round,
Till quite a goodly company
Beneath
that tree was found.
The wanderer told his story
o’er,
Unvarnished,
true and plain;
And on that night three-score
of men
Did
pledge them to abstain.

NATURE’S FAIR DAUGHTER, BEAUTIFUL WATER.

Nature’sfair daughter,
Beautiful
water!
O, hail it with joy, with
echoes of mirth,
Wherever it sparkles or ripples
on earth.
Down from
the mountain,
Up from
the fountain,
Ever it cometh, bright, sparkling
and clear,
From the Creator, our pathway
to cheer.
Nobly appearing,
O’er
cliffs careering,
Pouring impetuously on to
the sea,
Chanting, unceasing, the song
of the free.
See how
it flashes
As onward
it dashes
Over the pebbly bed of the
brook,
Singing in every sequestered
nook.
Now gently
falling,
As if ’t
were calling
Spirits of beauty from forest
and dell
To welcome it on to grotto
and cell.
Beauteous
and bright
Gleams it
in light,
Then silently flows beneath
the deep glade,
Emblem of life in its sunshine
and shade.
Beautiful
water!
Nature’s
fair daughter!
Where’er it sparkles
or ripples on earth,
Hail it with joy and with
echoes of mirth.

THE TEST OF FRIENDSHIP.

Brightest shine the stars
above
When
the night is darkest round us;
Those the friends we dearest
love
Who
were near when sorrow bound us.
When no clouds o’ercast
our sky,
When
no evil doth attend us,
Then will many gather nigh,
Ever
ready to befriend us.
But when darkness shades our
path,
When
misfortune hath its hour,
When we lie beneath its wrath,
Some
will leave us to its power.
Often have we seen at night,
When
the clouds have gathered o’er us,
One lone star send forth its
light,
Marking
out the path before us.